Everyone in the world has some kind of burden. The important things is how you carry it. Quote from film of the day.
Yesterday my theme was force versus faith and today I discovered a relatively unknown film where these were its closing words. Most films on the free channels are either standards or made for TV pot boilers. Then one switches on the TV, searches the programmes and finds an unknown gem. The amusing aspect of this afternoon is that when I saw the title, the Barbarians, I assumed it was a Jack Palance type of film just the kind to watch with only one eye while continuing to work. Then when I read the programme notes on the TV I appreciated that it was something different, a programme about Rome in the Middle Ages during the Renaissance, a couple from two family Houses long in dispute a la Romeo and Juliet and set against the background of historical events,
The final final words of the film was a statement about Rome being the Eternal City. a statement which is familiar to most people without necessarily knowing why. It is a city which has been not just been occupied but sacked not once, but seven times. The first occasion was in 387 BC when about six Roman Legions 24000 men faced a similar number from Gaul at the battle of Atlia and in those days only the core of a regiment were full time professional soldiers. After the battle was lost the city was greatly destroyed.
The second occasion was some 800 years later when the Roman Empire was divided into two and where the capital was not Rome but Ravenna. The attackers were the Goths who became the Visigoths and they are reported to have killed, raped and pillaged for three days.
The third occasion was in 455 AD by the Vandals. The sacking of the City for treasure was more methodical than the previous occasion lasting 14 days although it is also said that in general buildings were not destroyed
The third instance commenced in 546 by King of the Ostrogoths who was based at Tivoli about 30 Kilometres from the City. I have spent one memorable day at Tivoli which has a commanding view over the countryside directly across to Rome and where there are the extraordinary Tivoli gardens with their fountains which can be regarded as one of the great remaining wonders of the world. The city was entered three times over a period of three years and on the last occasion it was cleared of people and left deserted for several weeks.
In 846 the walled inner city was defended from the advance Muslim Arabs then called Saracens who had moved up from Southern Italy after conquering Sicily. The basilica of St Peter was outside these walls and was sacked together with another important church.
In 1084 Rome came under attack from Norman King Henry IV then King of Germany and the Pope called for assistance from the Duke of Apulia who was engaged in fighting the Byzantine Emperor. He returned to Italy with 36000 men and force Henry who had set himself up as the Holy Roman Emperor to retire and led the Pope to safety. Until then the Normans had plundered the old city which had become rich but after the retirement the population rioted and the Normans set fire to the city destroyed many buildings and were able to subjugate the city again.
The final recorded sacking is the subject of the film, The Barbarians, in 1527 by the mutinous troops of Emperor Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor. The pope had enlisted the help of the French King to help free him from the control of Charles V. The French army were defeated but there was not sufficient funds to pay the 34000 troops who mutinied and forced their commander Charles III Duke of Bourbon and Constable in France to march on Rome known to be a wealthy city. 1527 was the year when a revolt had also broken out in Florence against the Medici family and the Venetians and their allies had various problems. Rome was badly defended with only some 5000 and one prominent fighter was the artist Benevento Cellini who is alleged to have shot and fatally wounded Charles V, in the film he is driven into action by the death of his mistress, an artist model. The death of Charles was counter productive because it led to complete break down of authority and restraint and the Pope only escaped because of a secret passageway and the bravery of the Swiss Guard with only 42 of the 189 on duty surviving. !000 other defenders were executed. (This is why sometimes strong leaders are kept in power or are kept on in this form because of the chaos and unpredictable situation likely to follow).
Despite efforts to relieve the city, the Pope was forced to surrender and pay a ransom of 400000 ducats and various Papal cities and lands were handed to the Holy Roman Empire. The sacking was regarded as the end of the Renaissance. The sacking has been used in various novels and films from Asimov’s Foundation to the League of Shadows in Batman Begins claim responsibility for the sacking. With such a background history it was a difficult task for this 1958 Black and White film to create a battle scene which conveyed the scale and horror of the actual event and a story which would engage audiences. What it succeeded in doing was to show the level of intrigue among the nobility but also the general sense of honour and chivalry that existed on the part of many.
I became very tired around 4.30 and as worked on previous days, instead of dozing and feeling tired ill for several hours unable to undertake productive work and went up to bed and slept solidly for a good two hours, waking around 7pm and in a condition which suggested I could and perhaps should have returned for a further slept I knew this might mean not sleeping again until daybreak and upsetting the better cycle established over the previous two days, But I did not feel like working and as luck would have it, there was the second of three films not previously seen immediately available to experience,
The Kings go North is not a generally well known film starring Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, nor was it a film which received critical acclaim or box office success when it was released. This does not surprise me for there is a tendency for films which do not show the USA in a good light not to be given good publicity and to be quietly left on the shelf although in this instance it is part of the Turner collection,
Frank Sinatra represents the hard working GI who takes his chance and become an officer during the Second World War and is part of the invasion of France which commenced in the South and which also covers those who had less of bloody expedition, disembarking near Saint Tropez, the town made famous by the presence of Bridget Bardot and a centre for the wealthy and fashionable holiday makers in the sixties and seventies. I camped (caravan) on the sea shore for two weeks in 1975 in the Bay opposite to the town and over subsequent visits to that part of France, visited the town, once spending an hour observing life on board the large Yachts moored at the quayside. It was then still a fashionable place for those with invitations to villa parties in the hills and dining in expensive restaurants.
This is not to say there was no bloodshed involved for those who landed in the area during World War II and Tony Curtis is one of new recruits with a contrasting background, his father owning factories, attending the best schools and colleges, partying at the country club and with a history of womanising and seizing any opportunity that arises, who is a replacement for lost men. He becomes the radio operator and quickly demonstrates that he has courage beyond the norm and although useful Frank has reservations about the man, primarily because of his background
It is factual that officers and men were given recreation and relaxation passes to comparatively safe coastal areas where the principle preoccupation was the for women of easy virtue and, of which there was no shortage , often joining a man for the night for little more than nylons and chocolate and a good time. The storyline involves Frank deciding to explore further afield from Nice to Villefranche a few kilometres away. Although I visited once maybe twice to get a feel of the area it was not my kind of holidaying, with the emphasise on those who enjoy going to the Cannes film festival, gambling at the Monaco Casino or watching the Grand Prix, you just need lots of money and connections to be able to walk into shops and restaurants without having to first find out the level of pricing. I wish
When walking the quayside Frank comes across a pretty French young woman teaching a child to say words in English and he is captivated by her. The child is not hers and he persuades her to have a meal with him and they talk about their respective lives, Her parents were American who came to live in France between the two wars, and her father has recently died, However she resists his offer of meeting again a week later. Frank keeps the date and instead of finding the girl he encounters an older woman who turns out to be the girl’s mother and she takes him to their wealthy villa where daughter has been helping to prepares the evening meal.
It is only after the meal that Frank learns as a consequence of using the N word that the father of the girl was black, a man who had worked hard to become the senior executive of a major company and who had decided to move to France when his girl friend became pregnant because it was known that France was then less prejudiced about colour than the position in the USA, especially in relation to mixed race children. This is a shock to the Frank’s’ character and for a time during the following week he debates whether to return, as he was beginning to fall in love with the girl played by Natalie Wood, one of those stars I fell in love with as a young man and where I had not knowledge what a notorious Hollywood siren she became as well as a fine actress, Natalie was born in the USA in1938, a year older than me and she died only the age of forty three having had a full on life, appearing in twenty films as a child star with the best known Miracle on 34th Street, and performing with the likes of James Stewart, Maureen O’Hara, Bette Davis and Bing Crosby. Her real name was Natalia Nokolaevna Zakharenko which was shorted to Natashia Gurdin for a time. I remember her from the Blue Veil and the Silver Chalice, before she became an internationally adored adult star in Rebel without a Cause. She then appeared in a number of films including, All the fine Young Cannibals. Splendour in the Grass, Love with a Proper Stranger, Gypsy, Inside Daisy Clover and Sex and the Single Girl but her third most famous and Oscar nominating role was West Side Story. Also in the 1960’s was Bob and Carol, Ted and Alice and the Candidate. She won several awards including Golden Globe for her performance in the TV version of From Here to Eternity.
However it was off screen life that at times attracted greater attention. She was married three times, twice to Robert Wagner, her first marriage who she first date at eighteen and married at 19 and then remarried in 1972 until her death. The first scandal involved Dennis Hopper with whom she was romantically involved allegedly finding her in bed with the Director Nicholas Ray. She subsequently had publicised relationships with two decades’ older Raymond Burr, also Warren Beatty, Tab Hunter, Nick Adams, Michael Caine, Scott Marlow, and Elvis Presley.
The circumstances of her death are suspicious, drowning while falling overboard. There were marks and bruises on her body consist with having fallen and claims that she had drunk the equivalent of two bottles of wine and which he coroner argued was probably why she did not attempt to remove the heavy coat and sweater she was wearing and which pulled her down. However no one has explained why a witness claimed to have heard Natalie call out for help for 15 minuets and that a voice had responded “ Take it easy, we’ll be over to get you.” It is puzzling given this evidence that the Coroner decided on an accidental death and not an open verdict.
In the film Frank decides to continue to visits the girl and her mother but the relationship appears to be one of good friends. They go to a jazz club in Nice and there find that the hot stat is visiting American trumpeter none other than Tony Curtis who is also enjoying the company of local women. However he is drawn to Natalie and after establishing that she is just a friend of Sinatra and knowing of the inter racial marriage, he claims to have fallen in love and to wanting marriage making application through formal army channels. Frank although jealous and disappointed agrees to be the best man.
The men are still engaged in a war and for the greater part of the time during the film they are commanding a small hill top control point. looking across a valley to a hilltop village from where German guns are hidden among housing and breaking into firings from time to time. It is difficult for the USA to fire back putting the civilians at risk. They devise a plan for Frank and the radio operator to move under cover at night into the lower area of the village and radio the precise locations of the guns. Called to HQ to get the go ahead for the plan, Frank discovers that the approval for the marriage had come through and Tony had told the official that he had not been serious. Confronting Tony just before the mission, the character admits that he been engaged several times as a means of establishing an adult relationship and although the girl is a superior person to all those of his past, he would not be allowed to take her into the country club. He will not marry her.. Frank forces Tony to tell the truth to the girl who attempts to commit suicide and Frank warns his former friend that he will find a way to kill him before the war ends.
The mission is very successful as they find the town deserted except for the German stronghold and a major ammunition dump so they give information to fire generally as it appears the force is about to retreat. Tony is killed and Frank severely injured losing one arm. He is hospitalised in Paris for several months during which time he learns of the death of the girl’s mother. He return to find that she has turned the villa into a school and the film ends as the children sing him a song. It sis unclear if the two are to have a relationship or he is return to the USA to his former work.
At the end of the film I had recovered an had a late meal of half a glass of red wine, a few anchovy stuffed olives, a sea bass with a parsley sauce, and small portion of mixed vegetables followed by grapes in time for the third film of wartime experience of the day. As with Kings go Forth, The Last Tattoo has an even greater Taboo subject.
Most people know that Australia played an important role in World War II both as combatants and provided bases for shipping and for men. Less well known through moving pictures because its limited film industry has been the role of New Zealand and the impact upon the local population of the arrival of the Yanks. This being so the choice of subject of this powerful suspense drama is surprising.
It is set in 1943 when New Zealand was an important staging post for Marines preparing for the grand offensive against Japan, the role of one of the central character in the film, local medical examiner, is to track and treat the sources of venereal disease. She therefore has contact with the service establishment and the brothels and the places where the camp followers frequent. She becomes more than usually concerned when an untreatable strain of the diseases breaks out and tries to find its source. Her mission is to protect women and stop the source and therefore she does not react favourably when a US Marine Captain starts to link her work to his investigation in the murder of a serviceman. Eventually after a second murder of one of the girls, join forces discovering a trail which leads to the top brass, New Zealand politicians and union bosses and a cover up. The chief villain is played by Rod Steiger. I say chief villain because it is wartime, and collateral damage is part of the evil and no one wants to rock the boat so to speak as everyone is about to sail off into combat with the prospect of death and injury the most likely outcome. One attitude among those at a party of big wigs was revealing. No one should go to the front again until everyone else has. This approach means a constant stream of inexperienced young men while those who have enjoyed a good life since surviving World War II remain in the comfort zone. Fortunately not all parents adopted this attitude and many fathers volunteered in the hope doing so might shorten the and enable their school age sons to escape the experience.
Only recently I mentioned that one of my early experiences as a social worker was working with abandoned young women who had one or more children by USA services men attached to an airbase and that I also became involved with claims and counter claims about parental responsibility in relation to British service men. One of the great experiences of my life was to examine the original medical and other military records of my mother’s grandfather who had lied about his age for joining the British army for the minimum period of ten years plus two. However the medical record also revealed that he had treatment for three occasions of social diseases before his marriage as a twenty one year old, One of my favourite stage musicals remains Miss Saigon where the children along with their mothers were abandoned when the troops were hastily pulled out, and where the same scene of helicopters arriving to pull out US residents, Embassy staff and carefully vetted locals while a great multitude are left clamouring at the gates was a main feature of the latest special two hour opener for the 7th series of 24. One cannot help wondering where the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are going for their R and R.
There is a curious battle emerging in the UK between men and female members of the Government and others about the future approach of the government towards the sex industry in the UK. It is generally agreed that there are over 50000 women and some men involved in the performing end of the sex industry in the UK. And many if not the majority will have been groomed as girls, these days frequently brought into the country from new Europe and kept as sex slaves, while some of these and other are dependent on drugs. However a proportion are emancipated, some working intensely for a period of years, other casually supplementing income as student, wife and mother and some because they enjoy frequent sex.
In the 1980’s I served on a national committee which investigated the position as part of examination the relationship between the spread of HIV infection and the use of needles fro drug use. I also received official briefings about the extent of drug use and the involvement with prostitution and serious crime organisations when a member of the Drug Advisory service. The one thing that struck me was the total number reliably reported to be involved and the number of clients a day.
Even if you allow for young men using prostitutes to gain their first experiences, for the those service men based at home, for older and older still single men on holiday from other countries and from the homeland, the number of people from all walks of life and marital status situations in regular contact is still a substantial number but still a minority of the adult male population.
The position is the same with people who have been to prison as criminals or for civil offences, primarily for the non payment of fines. The scale of those involved under both categories is such that public policy in the UK is appalling in the sense of the failure to address prevention, safety and rehabilitation issues. As a nation we have become more hypocritical that the Victorians and the response of politicians is respond favourably to calls for tougher penalties and more prisons.
For some reason which suggests corruption and cover up the focus always appears to be on the front line providers and users and not on those making fortunes from the organisation of the industry.
Given that alcohol and smoking tobacco are not illegal activities because governments and other make too much money, and making the trade and supply illegal would creates a new income for criminals, it is difficult to understand why drug use and prostitution is not treated similarly, especially as alcohol and tobacco account for a significant number of work days lost and premature deaths.
Some healthy common sense appeared to be developing in the UK when members of a Women Institute started a campaign for the act of prostitution not to be illegal and for licensing and supervision by appropriate medical and social authorities, and which in turn would lead to such women and men cooperating more openly with the authorities to stop trafficking, exploitation and violence. Now there is a new counter movement to make the paying for sex an illegal act. This will not stop those with money and influence from providing and using services but will hit everyone else. It is not only daft but dangerous.
Yesterday my theme was force versus faith and today I discovered a relatively unknown film where these were its closing words. Most films on the free channels are either standards or made for TV pot boilers. Then one switches on the TV, searches the programmes and finds an unknown gem. The amusing aspect of this afternoon is that when I saw the title, the Barbarians, I assumed it was a Jack Palance type of film just the kind to watch with only one eye while continuing to work. Then when I read the programme notes on the TV I appreciated that it was something different, a programme about Rome in the Middle Ages during the Renaissance, a couple from two family Houses long in dispute a la Romeo and Juliet and set against the background of historical events,
The final final words of the film was a statement about Rome being the Eternal City. a statement which is familiar to most people without necessarily knowing why. It is a city which has been not just been occupied but sacked not once, but seven times. The first occasion was in 387 BC when about six Roman Legions 24000 men faced a similar number from Gaul at the battle of Atlia and in those days only the core of a regiment were full time professional soldiers. After the battle was lost the city was greatly destroyed.
The second occasion was some 800 years later when the Roman Empire was divided into two and where the capital was not Rome but Ravenna. The attackers were the Goths who became the Visigoths and they are reported to have killed, raped and pillaged for three days.
The third occasion was in 455 AD by the Vandals. The sacking of the City for treasure was more methodical than the previous occasion lasting 14 days although it is also said that in general buildings were not destroyed
The third instance commenced in 546 by King of the Ostrogoths who was based at Tivoli about 30 Kilometres from the City. I have spent one memorable day at Tivoli which has a commanding view over the countryside directly across to Rome and where there are the extraordinary Tivoli gardens with their fountains which can be regarded as one of the great remaining wonders of the world. The city was entered three times over a period of three years and on the last occasion it was cleared of people and left deserted for several weeks.
In 846 the walled inner city was defended from the advance Muslim Arabs then called Saracens who had moved up from Southern Italy after conquering Sicily. The basilica of St Peter was outside these walls and was sacked together with another important church.
In 1084 Rome came under attack from Norman King Henry IV then King of Germany and the Pope called for assistance from the Duke of Apulia who was engaged in fighting the Byzantine Emperor. He returned to Italy with 36000 men and force Henry who had set himself up as the Holy Roman Emperor to retire and led the Pope to safety. Until then the Normans had plundered the old city which had become rich but after the retirement the population rioted and the Normans set fire to the city destroyed many buildings and were able to subjugate the city again.
The final recorded sacking is the subject of the film, The Barbarians, in 1527 by the mutinous troops of Emperor Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor. The pope had enlisted the help of the French King to help free him from the control of Charles V. The French army were defeated but there was not sufficient funds to pay the 34000 troops who mutinied and forced their commander Charles III Duke of Bourbon and Constable in France to march on Rome known to be a wealthy city. 1527 was the year when a revolt had also broken out in Florence against the Medici family and the Venetians and their allies had various problems. Rome was badly defended with only some 5000 and one prominent fighter was the artist Benevento Cellini who is alleged to have shot and fatally wounded Charles V, in the film he is driven into action by the death of his mistress, an artist model. The death of Charles was counter productive because it led to complete break down of authority and restraint and the Pope only escaped because of a secret passageway and the bravery of the Swiss Guard with only 42 of the 189 on duty surviving. !000 other defenders were executed. (This is why sometimes strong leaders are kept in power or are kept on in this form because of the chaos and unpredictable situation likely to follow).
Despite efforts to relieve the city, the Pope was forced to surrender and pay a ransom of 400000 ducats and various Papal cities and lands were handed to the Holy Roman Empire. The sacking was regarded as the end of the Renaissance. The sacking has been used in various novels and films from Asimov’s Foundation to the League of Shadows in Batman Begins claim responsibility for the sacking. With such a background history it was a difficult task for this 1958 Black and White film to create a battle scene which conveyed the scale and horror of the actual event and a story which would engage audiences. What it succeeded in doing was to show the level of intrigue among the nobility but also the general sense of honour and chivalry that existed on the part of many.
I became very tired around 4.30 and as worked on previous days, instead of dozing and feeling tired ill for several hours unable to undertake productive work and went up to bed and slept solidly for a good two hours, waking around 7pm and in a condition which suggested I could and perhaps should have returned for a further slept I knew this might mean not sleeping again until daybreak and upsetting the better cycle established over the previous two days, But I did not feel like working and as luck would have it, there was the second of three films not previously seen immediately available to experience,
The Kings go North is not a generally well known film starring Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, nor was it a film which received critical acclaim or box office success when it was released. This does not surprise me for there is a tendency for films which do not show the USA in a good light not to be given good publicity and to be quietly left on the shelf although in this instance it is part of the Turner collection,
Frank Sinatra represents the hard working GI who takes his chance and become an officer during the Second World War and is part of the invasion of France which commenced in the South and which also covers those who had less of bloody expedition, disembarking near Saint Tropez, the town made famous by the presence of Bridget Bardot and a centre for the wealthy and fashionable holiday makers in the sixties and seventies. I camped (caravan) on the sea shore for two weeks in 1975 in the Bay opposite to the town and over subsequent visits to that part of France, visited the town, once spending an hour observing life on board the large Yachts moored at the quayside. It was then still a fashionable place for those with invitations to villa parties in the hills and dining in expensive restaurants.
This is not to say there was no bloodshed involved for those who landed in the area during World War II and Tony Curtis is one of new recruits with a contrasting background, his father owning factories, attending the best schools and colleges, partying at the country club and with a history of womanising and seizing any opportunity that arises, who is a replacement for lost men. He becomes the radio operator and quickly demonstrates that he has courage beyond the norm and although useful Frank has reservations about the man, primarily because of his background
It is factual that officers and men were given recreation and relaxation passes to comparatively safe coastal areas where the principle preoccupation was the for women of easy virtue and, of which there was no shortage , often joining a man for the night for little more than nylons and chocolate and a good time. The storyline involves Frank deciding to explore further afield from Nice to Villefranche a few kilometres away. Although I visited once maybe twice to get a feel of the area it was not my kind of holidaying, with the emphasise on those who enjoy going to the Cannes film festival, gambling at the Monaco Casino or watching the Grand Prix, you just need lots of money and connections to be able to walk into shops and restaurants without having to first find out the level of pricing. I wish
When walking the quayside Frank comes across a pretty French young woman teaching a child to say words in English and he is captivated by her. The child is not hers and he persuades her to have a meal with him and they talk about their respective lives, Her parents were American who came to live in France between the two wars, and her father has recently died, However she resists his offer of meeting again a week later. Frank keeps the date and instead of finding the girl he encounters an older woman who turns out to be the girl’s mother and she takes him to their wealthy villa where daughter has been helping to prepares the evening meal.
It is only after the meal that Frank learns as a consequence of using the N word that the father of the girl was black, a man who had worked hard to become the senior executive of a major company and who had decided to move to France when his girl friend became pregnant because it was known that France was then less prejudiced about colour than the position in the USA, especially in relation to mixed race children. This is a shock to the Frank’s’ character and for a time during the following week he debates whether to return, as he was beginning to fall in love with the girl played by Natalie Wood, one of those stars I fell in love with as a young man and where I had not knowledge what a notorious Hollywood siren she became as well as a fine actress, Natalie was born in the USA in1938, a year older than me and she died only the age of forty three having had a full on life, appearing in twenty films as a child star with the best known Miracle on 34th Street, and performing with the likes of James Stewart, Maureen O’Hara, Bette Davis and Bing Crosby. Her real name was Natalia Nokolaevna Zakharenko which was shorted to Natashia Gurdin for a time. I remember her from the Blue Veil and the Silver Chalice, before she became an internationally adored adult star in Rebel without a Cause. She then appeared in a number of films including, All the fine Young Cannibals. Splendour in the Grass, Love with a Proper Stranger, Gypsy, Inside Daisy Clover and Sex and the Single Girl but her third most famous and Oscar nominating role was West Side Story. Also in the 1960’s was Bob and Carol, Ted and Alice and the Candidate. She won several awards including Golden Globe for her performance in the TV version of From Here to Eternity.
However it was off screen life that at times attracted greater attention. She was married three times, twice to Robert Wagner, her first marriage who she first date at eighteen and married at 19 and then remarried in 1972 until her death. The first scandal involved Dennis Hopper with whom she was romantically involved allegedly finding her in bed with the Director Nicholas Ray. She subsequently had publicised relationships with two decades’ older Raymond Burr, also Warren Beatty, Tab Hunter, Nick Adams, Michael Caine, Scott Marlow, and Elvis Presley.
The circumstances of her death are suspicious, drowning while falling overboard. There were marks and bruises on her body consist with having fallen and claims that she had drunk the equivalent of two bottles of wine and which he coroner argued was probably why she did not attempt to remove the heavy coat and sweater she was wearing and which pulled her down. However no one has explained why a witness claimed to have heard Natalie call out for help for 15 minuets and that a voice had responded “ Take it easy, we’ll be over to get you.” It is puzzling given this evidence that the Coroner decided on an accidental death and not an open verdict.
In the film Frank decides to continue to visits the girl and her mother but the relationship appears to be one of good friends. They go to a jazz club in Nice and there find that the hot stat is visiting American trumpeter none other than Tony Curtis who is also enjoying the company of local women. However he is drawn to Natalie and after establishing that she is just a friend of Sinatra and knowing of the inter racial marriage, he claims to have fallen in love and to wanting marriage making application through formal army channels. Frank although jealous and disappointed agrees to be the best man.
The men are still engaged in a war and for the greater part of the time during the film they are commanding a small hill top control point. looking across a valley to a hilltop village from where German guns are hidden among housing and breaking into firings from time to time. It is difficult for the USA to fire back putting the civilians at risk. They devise a plan for Frank and the radio operator to move under cover at night into the lower area of the village and radio the precise locations of the guns. Called to HQ to get the go ahead for the plan, Frank discovers that the approval for the marriage had come through and Tony had told the official that he had not been serious. Confronting Tony just before the mission, the character admits that he been engaged several times as a means of establishing an adult relationship and although the girl is a superior person to all those of his past, he would not be allowed to take her into the country club. He will not marry her.. Frank forces Tony to tell the truth to the girl who attempts to commit suicide and Frank warns his former friend that he will find a way to kill him before the war ends.
The mission is very successful as they find the town deserted except for the German stronghold and a major ammunition dump so they give information to fire generally as it appears the force is about to retreat. Tony is killed and Frank severely injured losing one arm. He is hospitalised in Paris for several months during which time he learns of the death of the girl’s mother. He return to find that she has turned the villa into a school and the film ends as the children sing him a song. It sis unclear if the two are to have a relationship or he is return to the USA to his former work.
At the end of the film I had recovered an had a late meal of half a glass of red wine, a few anchovy stuffed olives, a sea bass with a parsley sauce, and small portion of mixed vegetables followed by grapes in time for the third film of wartime experience of the day. As with Kings go Forth, The Last Tattoo has an even greater Taboo subject.
Most people know that Australia played an important role in World War II both as combatants and provided bases for shipping and for men. Less well known through moving pictures because its limited film industry has been the role of New Zealand and the impact upon the local population of the arrival of the Yanks. This being so the choice of subject of this powerful suspense drama is surprising.
It is set in 1943 when New Zealand was an important staging post for Marines preparing for the grand offensive against Japan, the role of one of the central character in the film, local medical examiner, is to track and treat the sources of venereal disease. She therefore has contact with the service establishment and the brothels and the places where the camp followers frequent. She becomes more than usually concerned when an untreatable strain of the diseases breaks out and tries to find its source. Her mission is to protect women and stop the source and therefore she does not react favourably when a US Marine Captain starts to link her work to his investigation in the murder of a serviceman. Eventually after a second murder of one of the girls, join forces discovering a trail which leads to the top brass, New Zealand politicians and union bosses and a cover up. The chief villain is played by Rod Steiger. I say chief villain because it is wartime, and collateral damage is part of the evil and no one wants to rock the boat so to speak as everyone is about to sail off into combat with the prospect of death and injury the most likely outcome. One attitude among those at a party of big wigs was revealing. No one should go to the front again until everyone else has. This approach means a constant stream of inexperienced young men while those who have enjoyed a good life since surviving World War II remain in the comfort zone. Fortunately not all parents adopted this attitude and many fathers volunteered in the hope doing so might shorten the and enable their school age sons to escape the experience.
Only recently I mentioned that one of my early experiences as a social worker was working with abandoned young women who had one or more children by USA services men attached to an airbase and that I also became involved with claims and counter claims about parental responsibility in relation to British service men. One of the great experiences of my life was to examine the original medical and other military records of my mother’s grandfather who had lied about his age for joining the British army for the minimum period of ten years plus two. However the medical record also revealed that he had treatment for three occasions of social diseases before his marriage as a twenty one year old, One of my favourite stage musicals remains Miss Saigon where the children along with their mothers were abandoned when the troops were hastily pulled out, and where the same scene of helicopters arriving to pull out US residents, Embassy staff and carefully vetted locals while a great multitude are left clamouring at the gates was a main feature of the latest special two hour opener for the 7th series of 24. One cannot help wondering where the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are going for their R and R.
There is a curious battle emerging in the UK between men and female members of the Government and others about the future approach of the government towards the sex industry in the UK. It is generally agreed that there are over 50000 women and some men involved in the performing end of the sex industry in the UK. And many if not the majority will have been groomed as girls, these days frequently brought into the country from new Europe and kept as sex slaves, while some of these and other are dependent on drugs. However a proportion are emancipated, some working intensely for a period of years, other casually supplementing income as student, wife and mother and some because they enjoy frequent sex.
In the 1980’s I served on a national committee which investigated the position as part of examination the relationship between the spread of HIV infection and the use of needles fro drug use. I also received official briefings about the extent of drug use and the involvement with prostitution and serious crime organisations when a member of the Drug Advisory service. The one thing that struck me was the total number reliably reported to be involved and the number of clients a day.
Even if you allow for young men using prostitutes to gain their first experiences, for the those service men based at home, for older and older still single men on holiday from other countries and from the homeland, the number of people from all walks of life and marital status situations in regular contact is still a substantial number but still a minority of the adult male population.
The position is the same with people who have been to prison as criminals or for civil offences, primarily for the non payment of fines. The scale of those involved under both categories is such that public policy in the UK is appalling in the sense of the failure to address prevention, safety and rehabilitation issues. As a nation we have become more hypocritical that the Victorians and the response of politicians is respond favourably to calls for tougher penalties and more prisons.
For some reason which suggests corruption and cover up the focus always appears to be on the front line providers and users and not on those making fortunes from the organisation of the industry.
Given that alcohol and smoking tobacco are not illegal activities because governments and other make too much money, and making the trade and supply illegal would creates a new income for criminals, it is difficult to understand why drug use and prostitution is not treated similarly, especially as alcohol and tobacco account for a significant number of work days lost and premature deaths.
Some healthy common sense appeared to be developing in the UK when members of a Women Institute started a campaign for the act of prostitution not to be illegal and for licensing and supervision by appropriate medical and social authorities, and which in turn would lead to such women and men cooperating more openly with the authorities to stop trafficking, exploitation and violence. Now there is a new counter movement to make the paying for sex an illegal act. This will not stop those with money and influence from providing and using services but will hit everyone else. It is not only daft but dangerous.
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